On the day after the Oscars, some thoughts on movies and Iran . . . My wife and I recently watched the Iranian movie, “The Past.” It is the fifth Iranian movie we’ve watched, and like the others, it is excellent. Will I be arrested for sedition for saying something positive about Iran? It’s not paranoia to think that the doddering and molting hawk John McCain or the acid-reflux president Donald Trump would want to resurrect Woodrow Wilson’s Alien and Sedition Act to imprison anyone who says anything good about their archenemy Iran. A reminder for the White House press: Wilson was a...
Libertarian Movie Panned by Left and Right
“The Free State of Jones” is a movie with a strong libertarian theme that was released in 2016. Unsurprisingly, the libertarian theme was beyond the comprehension of critics and the public. I recently picked up the film at the library and watched it at home without knowing anything about it beforehand. While watching it, I told my wife that it probably got bad reviews, although it’s a very good movie. I was right. After watching it, I read scores of reviews, including reviews in such major publications as The Guardian and Rolling Stone. One review called it a “commie” move, another said...
The Fakest Fake News Is about Healthcare Costs
If you listen enough to the melodramatic media, you might think that the cost of medical care/insurance has become so expensive for the average family that parents are performing tonsillectomies on their children with a steak knife on the kitchen table. Judging by how the issue of medical costs is covered by media dramatists, journalism schools are apparently teaching aspiring journalists how to find the worst case and present it in melodramatic fashion as the rule instead of the exception. It’s a similar melodramatic story with respect to tuition debt. But what are the facts? What are the...
Politically-Incorrect Harvard Commencement Address and Other Mind-Boggling Stuff
Unbelievable! I didn’t know until this week that an African-American student had given a commencement address at Harvard praising former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The address had the title, “Jefferson Davis as a Representative of Civilization.” Why wasn’t there a riot over his comments? I also didn’t know until this week that the CIA-led Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 was not the first failed attempt by Americans to overturn a Cuban government with mercenaries. Why didn’t the media point this out after the Bay of Pigs fiasco? Allow me to give the fascinating details of...
The Great Hypocrisy of Libertarians and Conservatives
It’s nearly impossible in the modern social-welfare state for a believer in limited government (aka limited coercion and theft) not to be a hypocrite. Take Social Security and Medicare. After being forced to pay into the programs over a working life, most people can’t afford to walk away from program benefits upon retirement, even if they disagree with the entitlement programs on principle. Besides, walking away would not result in the demise of the programs. Or take taxes. Even if taxes are used for immoral or nefarious purposes, sticking to principles by not paying taxes would only...
Rats Steering the Ship of State
Rats don’t jump from a sinking ship as commonly thought. They actually steer the ship. No, this isn’t a metaphor for Trump’s presidency. It’s a metaphor for all presidencies, all politicians, all leaders in every endeavor, and all humans who believe that they are more rational and logical than the average person. This is especially true for yours truly, Mr. Rat Brain. Where did I get such a stupid metaphor? From none other than Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist who spent a lifetime studying how people actually think and make decisions, including well-educated...
Audi deserves to be keyed
Join me in keying Audi. Figuratively speaking, that is. It would be wrong to vandalize a car by running a key along the side, even a car manufactured by a German company that fouled the airwaves during the Super Bowl with agitprop about equal pay for women. But it’s not wrong to verbally key the ignorant fools who run the Audi car company. Chances are, you saw the commercial or have heard about it. It was masterfully designed to appeal to car buyers who want to make a political statement by what they drive, or maybe to appeal to unattractive guys who can only can get female companionship...
Working Stiffs Stiffed by Nixon, Reagan, and now Trump
He appealed directly to white Southerners and ethnic working-class Northerners, largely ignoring the left-leaning media, academia, and racial minorities. And he imposed a 10% tariff on imports. Donald Trump? No, Republican President Richard Nixon. Nixon took office in 1969, at a time when many working-class Americans were fed up with the policies of the previous president, Democrat Lyndon Johnson, whom they blamed for the economic doldrums, unbridled social-welfare spending, the rise of hippies and leftist radicals, and too much focus on racial minorities instead of the white “Silent...